My squadron is moving to another hanger...a petty officer, about 10 junior enlisted sailors, and I were working on packing up some of the furniture, classified material, computer equipment, etc in the old hanger. While we were working, I overheard a group of the young enlisted guys discussing setting up Roth IRAs and buying bonds.

Bear in mind that these guys were really junior, like E-2s...they're young and don't make a lot (prob $1600/month or so, pre-tax...although they live in the barracks and don't have that expense).

When the forklift operator took a break and we had a few minutes with nothing to do, I went over to them and gave them a 10 minute crash course in personal finance (which was basically "I am really impressed that you guys are thinking about stuff like this and getting started on it so young and at what you're currently making." I then briefly explained the basic advantage of a Roth IRA, what an index fund is, why they should be investing in the stock market instead of buying bonds, encouraged them to join USAA, gave them the phone number and website for it, and told them about some good services they offer, and pointed them towards Motley Fool--just as a good educational resource, not to buy a subscription to any stock picking services.)

I know I didn't really give a damn about any of that stuff when I was 21-23!

and what a long way our military has come...

10/17/2007 2:13:51 AM

words

yo holmes to bel-air

ntlb

etc.

10/17/2007 2:40:50 AM

hRme block duke

10/17/2007 2:44:38 AM

That is really impressive. Kudos to them.

10/17/2007 7:04:57 AM

Very nice.

GG on making sure to encourage them to join USAA.

10/17/2007 7:44:22 AM

i knew this was a serious thread when I saw it was Duke's, but i still read the whole thing waiting for

Quote :

"yo holmes to bel-air"

10/17/2007 7:51:15 AM

well Duke, they're sailors. we're supposed to have the brains in the Department of the Navy.

10/17/2007 8:59:45 AM

i thought that was an oxymoron

10/17/2007 9:10:12 AM

Quote :

"That is really impressive. Kudos to them."

Seriously.

I took personal finance with Huggard and it was an eye opener. I'm the only one that I know that's investing and putting money away for retirement.

10/17/2007 10:03:00 AM

anywho, my mom set me up with a retirement account of some sort, and i've changed my merrill lynch thing with my coop to take out more money (6% over 3%) because its an awesome deal for what you get. I'll be sitting pretty happy when i retire. its amazing how young people these days don't know anything about this...some of the other coops were throwing a bitch fit because 3% of their paycheck was being taken out and invested for them.

10/17/2007 10:08:09 AM

Quote :

"I'm the only one that I know that's investing and putting money away for retirement."

You must have missed this thread...
?topic=453056

[Edited on October 17, 2007 at 10:35 AM. Reason : link]

10/17/2007 10:30:28 AM

^^ just wait till next year with the changes.


it's megahot

10/17/2007 10:37:14 AM